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Publications (45)
Purpose
Evidence has indicated plausible effects of employees' use of their personal strengths at work on their attitudes, performance and well-being. Although the use of personal strengths was also expected to benefit others in the organization, such effects have rarely been examined. Here we studied associations of principals’ use of their person...
The present research builds on the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development and on research demonstrating the contribution of perceived organizational support for strengths use (POSSU) to the quality of employees’ work life. Specifically, we focus on teachers, whose training and development in schools often aim to narrow competence...
The utilization of specific strategies to manage couple conflict has a differential impact on women’s relationship satisfaction. However, considering that women’s role within couple relationship is shaped by societal norms, such association should be examined by embracing a cross-cultural perspective. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze...
Research indicates associations of mindfulness with better relationships and well‐being because it promotes decentering and relationship‐related capacities. This study examined the effects of mindfulness on mothers' relationships with their children and well‐being in a challenging time – the first COVID‐19 lockdown. We hypothesized that mothers' re...
The COVID-19 had negative effects on individuals and nations worldwide. However, based on literature suggesting that crises can trigger growth, we propose that it may have also triggered individuals' character strengths development, especially among those having experienced moderate levels of difficulty during the pandemic and having received socia...
Teacher caring has been suggested as critical to teachers' work, contributing to student learning and well-being. However, only limited research has examined the factors contributing to teacher caring or its effects on teachers. In the present study, we surveyed 341 teachers in elementary schools, exploring correlates of their caring. Structural eq...
Internal security and openness are two key elements required for attaining peace education goals. In this chapter, I will present teacher-level and school-level factors that can promote these elements. First, I will focus on the contribution of teachers’ sense of meaning, caring, and positive relationships with students aiming at the development of...
The two studies presented here examine the effects of teachers’ enhanced sense of meaning at work (SOM) on their burnout and engagement. In the first study, 41 teachers in two Arab schools were randomly assigned to a meaning-induction group—in which they were prompted daily to acknowledge meaningful incidents at work for 2 weeks or to a control gro...
Character strengths are widely studied positive traits considered to be “values in action,” reflecting morally valued virtues. They are hypothesized to serve as pathways to the manifestation of values in life for the benefit of individuals and societies. However, there is surprisingly limited theoretical writing and empirical research on the expect...
Objectives
Initial evidence indicates positive effects of mindfulness in schools, for both teachers and students. However, theoretical conceptualization and empirical evidence of the mechanisms underlying them is scarce.Methods
We propose such a model for education, which draws on other fields of mindfulness research, especially psychology and neur...
Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in education are widely spreading in the world, examination of mindfulness effects in Arab schools is still scarce. This pilot study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of an MBI among Arab teachers in Israel. This examination was conducted within the framework of the mindful self in schoo...
Research on teacher-student relationships shows their impact on students. However, it typically focuses on teachers’ interactions and instruction, with less attention to motivations/feelings. Specifically, almost no quantitative research has focused on teachers’ caring for students, despite its potential importance. The present multilevel study, co...
A main challenge of educational organizations is how to foster students’ capacity to fulfill their potential. The present paper, based on educational, psychological, and organizational research, asserts that a discussion of character strengths and their development is highly relevant to this challenge. It provides an integrative overview of the rel...
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is considered vital for organizations’ performance, and there is notable interest in factors that foster it. However, recent research has questioned the absolute positivity of OCB and pointed to its understudied possible adverse effects (e.g., on employees’ well-being). The present research aims to shed lig...
The aim of this study was to compare levels of attachment, conflict resolution strategies and marital satisfaction in women from Israel, United States, Turkey, and Spain (N = 343). A sample of individuals involved in a romantic relationship at ages 18-68 (M = 35.4, SD = 11.83) completed measures of attachment dimensions, conflict resolution strateg...
Adolescents from lower socio-economic status (SES) often experience distress in their personal life as well as at school. Moreover, their ability to overcome such difficulties and pave their path to a higher SES depends, to a certain extent, on their ability to develop resilience despite their disadvantaged background. Acknowledging the critical co...
Accumulating research in education shows that contemplative practices contribute to and foster well-being of individuals in sustainable ways. This bears special importance for teachers, as it affects not only them but also their students. Based on accumulating behavioral and neuroscientific findings, it has been suggested that a key process by whic...
Based on the "broaden and build" theory of positive emotions, we explored daily dynamics of teachers’ emotions and their regulation, expecting positive emotions to promote teachers' use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and trigger upward spirals leading to further use of these strategies and increased teacher well-being. Negative emotions...
Meaningful work and meaningful relationships at work have been highlighted for their potential desirable consequences for employees and organizations. The present research focuses on teaching, as a potentially meaningful occupation, and suggests that teachers’ sense of meaning at work affects teacher–student relationships, which in turn affect teac...
Signature strengths are individuals’ highest-ranked strengths, those that they own, celebrate, and frequently exercise. Their use has been theorized to elicit positive affect, and contribute significantly to individuals’ functioning and well-being. The present study examined two elements of these ideas in the work arena: (a) Associations of strengt...
Several studies have pointed to the benefits of learning in groups. However, surprisingly little research has been conducted regarding what role relationship-related personality traits play in the effectiveness of this kind of student learning. Such personality factor can potentially buffer the students’ effectiveness in groups. The present study f...
Using character strengths at work has been associated with desirable feelings, attitudes, and functioning. However, factors promoting strengths use at work have rarely been studied. In the present study, we focused on social support, a key contributor to employees’ functioning and well-being, and examined the effects of supervisor and colleague sup...
Character strengths are hypothesized to contribute to human thriving. However, the effects of their use on individuals’ behaviors and attitudes at work, an important domain of modern life, have rarely been studied. In the present study, we examined associations of employees’ use of character strengths at work with productivity, organizational citiz...
Meditation practices purportedly help people develop focused and sustained attention, cultivate feelings of compassionate concern for self and others, and strengthen motivation to help others who are in need. We examined the impact of 3 months of intensive meditative training on emotional responses to scenes of human suffering. Sixty participants w...
Character strengths are durable positive attributes that contribute to well-being in life and at work. They are also hypothesized to contribute to the growth and flourishing of individuals and organizations. However, their associations with work performance and counterproductive work behaviors have rarely been studied. The present study seeks to id...
Attachment research to date has focused mostly on individuals and dyads
and has demonstrated the disadvantages of attachment insecurities. The
present study focuses on the potential positive effects of team-level
heterogeneity of attachment orientations on team functioning (suggested
by social defense theory) and examines the role of team cohesion...
Character strengths, representing positive attributes of individuals, have been linked with several positive psychological qualities, such as life satisfaction and well-being. However, the effects of character strengths and their deployment on married couples, at the dyadic level, have not been studied to date. The present study focuses on married...
Character strengths represent positive durable attributes of individuals, and their deployment is hypothesized to positively affect mood and well-being. Furthermore, strengths deployment may serve as a mood-repair strategy which promotes growth. Close relationships, being potential facilitators of personal growth, were hypothesized to amplify these...
-Attachment security in relationships is associated with several positive outcomes. Recently, researchers have applied attachment theory to employee-supervisor relationships. Two studies examined associations of supervisors' provision of attachment-related security with work-related outcomes and related underlying mechanisms. Participants completed...
Contemporary researchers suggest that working is a relational act. Accordingly, literature reflects increasing interest in the relevance of attachment theory to vocational and organizational phenomena. In the current study, we focused on associations of avoidant attachment orientation (characterized by obsessive self-reliance), anxious attachment o...
This 14-day dyadic diary study of 60 heterosexual couples examines links between attachment insecurities, intrusiveness, and relationship dissatisfaction by exploring the effects of attachment insecurities on intrusiveness and examining the daily interplay between intrusiveness and relationship dissatisfaction. We assessed attachment orientations,...
We investigated relationships among five higher-order strengths factors, subjective well-being, and general self-efficacy in participants that live under challenging conditions. Therefore, a sample of 396 Israeli adolescents (aged 13–18 years) completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Aff...
In this paper we examine the association between adolescents’ attachment orientations and their perceived abilities to tell and detect lies and truths. The 121 adolescents who participated in this study (a) self-assessed their abilities to tell and detect lies and truths and (b) completed a measure of attachment orientations (ECR). Results indicate...
Background:
Attachment orientations reflect internal representations of self, others, and relationships. Studies revealed meaningful cultural differences in attachment orientations, but few included Arab samples. to fill this gap, we compared attachment orientations of Jews and Arabs in Israel using valid measures.
Method:
Israeli participants (...
The Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) has been extensively used to assess character strengths. We adapted a Hebrew translation and analyzed its psychometric properties and associations with life satisfaction, personality traits, and positive and negative affect, and examined its factorial structure in 635 Israeli adults. Results indi...
Several studies link attachment insecurities with lower levels of life satisfaction. Positive psychology studies link character strengths, especially those associated with social interactions (i.e., love and gratitude) or optimism (hope and zest), with higher levels of life satisfaction. We hypothesized that the negative associations between insecu...
We examined the impact of training-induced improvements in self-regulation, operationalized in terms of response inhibition, on longitudinal changes in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning. Data were collected from participants undergoing 3 months of intensive meditation training in an isolated retreat setting (Retreat 1) and a wait-li...
We examined associations between two kinds of attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) and intrusiveness in couple relationships. One hundred fifty-six adults completed measures of attachment insecurities and variables related to intrusiveness (engaging in intrusive behavior, perceiving a partner as intrusive, subjective experiences of being i...
Several theories of close dyadic relationships posit that relationship harmony depends, in part, on each partner maintaining an appropriate balance between proximity and autonomy. Here we describe a qualitative cross-cultural study of 278 adults from four cultural groups, Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, East Indian Hindus, and Americans, examining the...
It is exciting to see how far research on hurt feelings has progressed since 1987 as both affective science and relationship science have blossomed. Our own professional involvement with the study of hurt feelings began accidentally, in the late 1980s, when Shaver, Schwartz, Kirson, and O'Connor (1987) probed the semantic structure of the English e...
We tested the hypothesis that experimentally induced security changes people's response to psychological pain (operationalized in terms of hurt feelings) in ways that depend on their attachment style. Seventy undergraduates were randomly assigned to receive (a) security-enhancing subliminal primes (the words love, secure, affection) or (b) neutral...
Strengths are presumed to be universal characteristics that are possessed by all people and explain wellbeing. However, a few previous studies have demonstrated cultural differences in endorsement of certain strengths and in the contribution of certain strengths to well-being. These studies suggest that sociological factors may differentially affec...